Teachers Help Line

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Teacherline

A 24-hour counselling helpline called Teacherline set up in October 1999 for stressed teachers in England and Wales receives a thousand calls a month. The most commonly reported problems are OFSTED inspections, excessive workloads, long working hours, and pupil misbehaviour. Problems with fellow teachers, department heads and head teachers also feature strongly. Many teachers say the feel undervalued and overwhelmed.

The helpline is run by the charity Teachers Benefits Fund which has been rebranded as Teacher Support Network, having now dropped the TBF. Teacherline is now called Teacher Support Line. The aim is to save £18 million through reduced absenteeism and sickness rates. However, any attempt to identify and deal with the causes of stress is conspicuous by its absence. Call and be counted – and identify what and who is the cause of your stress.

If you’re a stressed-out teacher (eg dealing with bullying at school) you can call

Teacher Support Line on 08000 562 561

or you can e-mail from the web site www.teachersupport.info

Teacherline reports that teachers are four times more likely to experience stress at work than employees in other professions. Researcher carried out for the Teachers’ Benevolent Fund revealed that 200,000 teachers have complained of stress over the past two years. 85,000 teachers reported pupil aggression and 58,000 reported aggression from parents.

27 October 2000: the first annual report of Teacherline, a telephone counselling service for stressed teachers, reveals that 1,000 teachers a month call the helpline. Of the 12,000 calls, 27% are about stress, anxiety and depression, 14% report conflict with managers, 9% are about workload, 9% have suffered loss of confidence, whilst 7% report “severe” problems comprising risk of suicide, major depression or substance dependency.

The charity has previously found that teachers are four times more likely to suffer stress than other other professions. TBF says it is has taken aback by the size and severity of problems – however those working in this field are not surprised. Teachers and lecturers have consistently been the largest group of callers to the UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line since its inception in January 1996.

Poll reveals teacher haemorrhage

29 February 2000: An ICM poll in the Guardian newspaper reveals that 53% of teachers and lecturers expect to leave the profession within 10 years due to excessive workloads, bureaucracy, and stress.